A furniture shop can be a part of the chain and sell similar furniture sets as other stores in the country and around the world, or be managed by a company that creates their own, unique products, tailored to the individual needs of the customer. The choice of the strategy determines the development of individual businesses related to running furniture shops.
How to open a furniture shop?
Basically anyone can open a furniture shop. To do so, one needs an investment capital and an understatement of the furniture market and current trends in the industry. Planning requires creating a business plan and estimating the budget. The future furniture owner needs to answer the following questions:
- How do I want to name my business?
- What are the startup and ongoing costs of my business?
- Who is my target market?
- How much do I want to charge my customers?
Once everything is decided, the future store owner needs to:
- form a legal entity,
- register the business for tax purposes,
- open a business bank account,
- set up accounting for the store,
- get all the necessary permits and licenses,
- find a business premise,
- get business insurance,
- define the store’s brand,
- create the furniture shop’s website,
- set up the business phone system.
It is also necessary to invest in a POS system, which will allow the furniture business to accept payments from the customers and keep track of all the sales.
How to design a furniture shop’s layout?
A well-designed furniture shop’s layout should display the merchandise in an interesting manner, attract the customers in, circulate them around the space, and guide them to find what they need. Its goal is to give the clients a memorable shopping experience and encourage them to make a purchase. There are various shop layouts to choose from. The most popular ones are the force-path layout and the boutique store layout.
Equipment for a furniture shop
Each furniture shop should be equipped with display stations in the form of walls, shelves, and racks. It is also necessary to implement sample books and boxes to professionally showcase particular product line options when a variety of colors, textures, patterns, and finishes is available. They allow the customers to visualize the product, closely examine it, and decide whether they want to make a purchase. One of the best sample box manufacturers on the market is Rigid Box. It offers high quality products at a competitive price.
The sample boxes from Rigid Box’s catalog come in various shapes and styles. The client can choose from bottom-lid boxes, magnetic boxes, clamshell boxes, and many more. By choosing sample boxes from Rigid Box, the furniture shop owner can be sure to obtain an elegant showcase for their brand’s products.
How to choose a furniture shop’s staff?
A furniture shop needs a good working staff. The owner of the business should hire people for:
- a showcase design team,
- a marketing team,
- a purchasing team,
- a floor sales team.
They may also hire a delivery team or decide to outsource delivery services from a third-party. While choosing staff for the furniture shop, its owner should search for people with skills necessary to perform tasks typical for a given position. In case of the sales team, it is crucial to choose workers who speak the local language and can easily communicate with the clients.
The cost of running a furniture shop
The people who want to open a furniture shop need to take into account high startup costs. Initially they will have to put into the business from 100.000 PLN up to 1.000.000 PLN, depending on the location, the size of the store, the size of the staff, and many other factors.